Raunchy 2 (89 page)

At Bernie’s House

When I got to Bernie’s house Kali was sitting on a sofa smoking a blunt. The house was filled with a grey haze and I could tell he’d been puffing one after the other.

“Where’s Bernie?”
“She not here.”
He stood up and the hatchet he took everywhere with him was on his

back. “But we gotta move without her. Her car out front.”

He walked toward the door and then to the car and I followed. “So where we going?”
“I need you to talk to this chick and get her to walk back with you to my car. She’s a good friend of mine but we had a misunderstanding in the past. I know if she sees me things will be good but there can be no mistakes, Mad. You gotta do what I’m telling you.”
“What’s her name?” We got inside the car and he started driving.
“Don’t worry about all that.”
When he finally stopped driving, we were in front of nail salon. From the large window I could see a lot of women inside and I wondered which one he was trying to reach.
“You see that bitch right there.” He pointed. “The one at the register? With the long hair and tight white t-shirt on.”
“The pretty one?”
“Yeah.” He paused. “I been following her for days.” He looked in her direction. “I finally got her. She is never,
ever
alone even if she comes here. But today, for whatever reason, she happened to come by herself.” He looked at me seriously. “Do what you gotta do, but I need you to get her to come to my car. She’s a friend of mine.”
I looked her over and knew it wouldn’t be easy. “Should I say you are in the car? Waiting on her?”
“I know you not that stupid!”
“Well what can I say? She don’t look like she’d even listen to me.”
“That’s your problem. Just do it.” He paused. “And if you do it and do it right, I got a bottle of Henny for you and some smoke when you get back. But if you don’t I’m cutting you out of my life for good.”
My heart dropped and I wanted to prove to him that I could do what he wanted.
“Okay…I got you.” I said moving for the door handle.
He laughed.
“What’s funny?”
“Nothing. I use to say that when I was a kid.”
“What?”
“I got you. Except for when I said it, I meant it.” He grabbed me by the wrist and the pressure he put on it hurt so bad I thought he would break my arm. “This shit is important. You understand?”
“Yeah. I do.”
“Bring her to me.”
When I walked out of the car I walked into the salon. I was tipsy as usual but was trying to think of what I could say to convince her to come to the car with me alone. She just finished paying and was in front of a wall of nail polishes.
“Can I help you?” The Chinese receptionist asked once I was inside.
“Uh…how much for a manicure?” I glanced over at the woman I was there to lure outside. She was holding a bottle of red polish.”
“You want tips?”
“What?” I frowned.
“Do you want me to make your nails longer?” The receptionist asked.
“Fuck no! Just a manicure.”
She frowned back and said, “Okay. Pick your color and wait over there in the seats. We’ll call you when its time.”
When she said that I went to the polishes. She was still there but she looked at me and moved. When I looked out of the window I saw the car but my pops was leaned back so no one could see him. But I knew he was there and I didn’t want to let him down. Out of everybody in my life, he was most like me. When there was nothing else I could think of to convince her to go anywhere with me, I decided to just walk over to her. She was looking at the pricing chart on the counter.
“Can I ask your opinion?” I said to her. She turned around and I couldn’t believe how pretty she was.
“Yeah. What is it?” She said looking back at the pricing chart.
“What color do you think I should get?”
She looked me over, smirked and said, “You look like the clear polish type.”
“What does that mean?”
“You’re a boy right?” she laughed.
“Yes.”
“Okay we’ll unless you’re gay you look like the clear polish type.”
I picked the clear polish out and sat in the seat to wait my turn. She decided against red and had chosen pink instead. With the polish in her hand she sat next to me. My mind wrecked trying to find out what I could say to her to strike up a conversation. She looked rich; like she’d been kept and like she’d never have anything to do with me. Her hair hung down her back and she had a diamond watch on her wrist and an engagement ring on her finger that looked like it cost thousands. I really liked that ring. If I ever had a fiancé I would want one like that to give to her.
“What do you do for a living?” I asked her.
“Nothing anymore.” She said examining the color of the polish she’d chosen. “I use to take care of myself and my man. Not any more though.”
“Did you like it?”
“Like what?”
“Being a stay at home mom.”
“Who said I was a stay at home mom? I don’t have any kids”
“Sorry,” I said swallowing hard. “I just assumed.”
“Naw, he never wanted any kids. Not with me anyway.” She paused. “The funny thing is, even if I could have them now, I’m too old. He ruined that for me.” Then she looked at me. “I told him I’m leaving him today and that’s its over. I’m sick of his shit.”
“His loss.” I said. “I know he’ll be sad to lose you.” I continued. “And you don’t look so old that you can’t have kids.”
“Well I am.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because I’m almost forty.” She looked at me and said, “Why all the fucking questions?”
Her attitude caught me off guard. “I’m sorry. I just never met anybody that looked like you before.”
Her face still held a frown but when she looked at mine her expression softened a little. “Look, I don’t know what you want from me, but I’m taken.” Then she paused. “And even if I wasn’t you couldn’t afford me.”
“I don’t want to be with you.” I paused.
“Then what do you want?”
“Actually what I wanted is kind of silly.”
She shook her head. “I should’ve known you wanted something. So what is it?”
“I’m trying to go to college. I don’t have a family or anything like that to take care of me. If I don’t sell enough of the cookies in my car I won’t even have a chance. So I figured I’d ask you if you could buy a couple of boxes. It will help me out a lot.”
“How many cookies do you want a bitch to buy?” She laughed. “Because you’ll need an awful lot sold to go to college.”
“Just some. I’m asking everybody I meet to buy some.”
“Well I don’t eat cookies. You don’t keep the kind of nigga I had by eating bullshit. It weighs on your hips.”
“I understand.” I said under my breath. “I wouldn’t expect you to do anything for me anyway.” I paused. “I mean, why should you? You don’t owe me nothing and you don’t even know me.”
After I said that I moved a few seats away from her. She looked at the busy nail technicians and back at me. “What kind?”
“What kind of what?” I asked her.
“What kind of cookies you selling?”
“Chocolate chip, raisin…stuff like that.”
“Okay, go get the boxes and I’ll buy them.”
“You can’t go with me to the car?”
“Why?” She asked suspiciously.
“Because I have more than one flavor.”
“No. I can’t. I don’t want to miss my place and I’m only buying them for you.” She paused. “It’s been a long time since I’ve given charity, so I might as well start today.”
“Please go to my car with me.”
“Look, let me just give you the money.” She reached for her wallet and opened it wide.
“I don’t want your fucking money!” I yelled.
Silence.
“Then how are you going to college?” She asked suspiciously. “It doesn’t make any sense if you don’t want my money.” She put her wallet back in her purse. “Who are you?”
“I mean…I want.” I swallowed. “I mean…I want to…” “Look, just leave me alone. Okay?”
Fuck. If she didn’t go with me my plan wouldn’t work. And then, I thought about Glitter and how she use to have these bad seizures and everybody would help her. If I acted good enough, maybe that would work. It was settled. I didn’t want to let my pops down so it would have to work. Sitting in my seat, I started shaking. Starting with my feet and then my legs. After awhile I trembled all over the way I saw Glitter do it back in the day.
“Are you okay?” She asked as everyone in the nail salon looked on.
“I’m…I’m having a seizure.”
“OH MY GOD!” She stood up and screamed. “SOMEBODY CALL 911!”
I dropped to the floor and she knelt down beside me. I was shaking my body as hard as I could. “Can you…can you please tell my father. He’s in that black car outside.”
“Which one?” She rose a little to look out of the window.
“The one directly across the street.”
“I see it. Give me a second!”
She ran outside toward the car and I wanted to go with her. But because I was supposed to be having a seizure, and other people surrounded me, I stayed where I was.
“Are you okay?” a nail technician said holding my hand. “The paramedics are on their way right now. Just relax. Everything will be okay.”
I didn’t say anything because there was no need in me faking around them so instead of continuing my act, my trembles got slower and slower. I waited until a minute passed before I sat in the seat and pretended to feel a little better. I wanted to give her time to get to the car and time for him to grab her. When I glanced out the window, I didn’t see her and she hadn’t came back into the salon. Hearing the ambulance I stood up and move toward the door.
“Wait! The ambulance is coming.” The nail tech said. “Please wait. We want to make sure you’re okay.”
“I’m fine!” I dipped nervously out the door.
Once outside I ran as fast as I could toward Kali’s car. I got into the passenger seat and looked at him. I was nervous, sweaty and scared. He pulled off quickly forcing my head backwards. I hated when people did that.
“Did you see your friend?” He nodded behind him and I saw her passed out lying on the back seat of the car. “What…why did you do this?”
“It’s a long story!” He said entering a busy intersection.
Looking at the ring I admired in the salon, I took it off her finger and put it in my pocket.
“I see you’re warming up to the idea of this shit real quick.”
“I guess so.” I said as we headed down the road.
When we drove in silence for another twenty minutes I said, “So you gonna tell me or not?”
“Tell you what?”
“Who she really is.”
“Her name is Antoinette, she’s Jace’s bitch.”